Type of information needed? (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary?) - HIST 1301 - Sprehe

Defining Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Tertiary Sources

provide first-hand observations or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation. They are created by witnesses or recorders at or near the time of the event. They have not been filtered through further interpretation or evaluation.

Primary sources may include

Original Documents: diaries, speeches, letters, interview transcripts, news footage, autobiographies, reports, census records, data from an experiment
Creative Works: poetry, plays, novels, music scores, films, paintings
Objects: clothing, buildings, tools, furniture

are works that analyze, assess or interpret a historical event, era or phenomenon. They may use primary sources to to write a review, critique or interpretation often well after the event.

Secondary sources may include

journal articles, editorial articles, literacy criticism, book reviews, biographies, textbooks

are those used to identify and locate primary and secondary sources.

Tertiary sources may include

Reference Works: encyclopedias, abstracts
Lists or Collections: bibliographies, finding aids
Search Tools: library database or catalog, indexes

Discipline	Humanities	Sciences	Social Sciences
Primary Source Examples	creative works, diaries, interviews, news footage, maps	results of experiments, research and clinical trials	census data, statistics, results of experiments on human behavior
Secondary Source Examples	books, journal articles, textbooks	books, journal articles, textbooks	books, journal articles, textbooks
Tertiary Source Examples	reference materials, databases	reference materials, databases	reference materials, databases

From: Olivares, Olivia. “LibGuides: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources: Source Types.” Libguides.ucmerced.edu, 5 Aug. 2022, libguides.ucmerced.edu/source-types.

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